Current Stories

The Dark Eye - Chains of Satinav Trailer

Daedalic Entertainment and Deep Silver present the new official trailer for The Dark Eye: Chains of Satinav, the upcoming adventure game. In The Dark Eye � Chains of Satinav, players take on the role of Geron, who gets involved into an uncanny intrigue. The kingdom of Andergast, whose inhabitants are well known for their superstition, is in clinch with the neighbored Nostria, but first steps into the direction of an enduring peace are taken. But a mysterious plague of crows disturbs all upcoming hope. The birds are getting more and more aggressive and even attack people. The Dark Eye - Chains of Satinav is currently slated for a June 22nd release, exclusively on the PC!

EVGA shows GeForce GTX 680 Classified (a little)

A small (really small) sneak preview of the EVGA GTX 680 Classified. Connectors there are 8pin+8pin+EVbot for some extreme tweaking. Next to that is the connector dedicated for hooking up probes to a voltmeter or multimeter.

All powered by a 14 Phase PWM, with 4096MB of GDDR5 memory.

Marshall Major Pitch Black Headphones

Marshall has released the Major Pitch Black headphones. These headphones feature a pair of 40mm moving coil dynamic speakers that produce a frequency response of 20 ~ 20kHz with an impedance of 32-Ohm.

The Major Pitch Black headphones also feature super soft ear cushions, an integrated microphone/ remote for use with cell phones and a denim headband. If you are interested, you can purchase the Marshall Major Pitch Black headphones for $135.

EVGA GeForce GTX 680 FTW launches

EVGA announces full details on the EVGA GeForce GTX 680 FTW. This card offers several enhancements over the standard GeForce GTX 680 including an 8 Phase PWM design, an 8+6pin Power Input and Vapor Chamber cooling. EVGA is even offering a version with 4GB of GDDR5 memory.

Razer Naga MMO mouse gets an update

Razer introduced a 2012 edition of its Naga MMO gaming mouse, the new model features enhanced ergonomics: Razer, the world leader in high-performance gaming hardware, today announced the return of the award-winning Razer Naga MMO gaming mouse. It has been updated for a new generation of win with an anti-slip, anti-fingerprint matte finish and three interchangeable side panels for a more ergonomic gaming experience. It still retains its most important feature, a 12-button thumb grid built to deliver cataclysmic destruction on all enemies when you bind spells, items, and macros to the buttons for quick access.

Crysis 3 PC version will get extra visuals

In a recent interview to Spong, Crytek's Rasmus Hojengaard stated that Crysis 3 PC version will get some extra Visual Goodies when it arrives next year.

SPOnG: Were PC players concerned with the move to multi-platform for Crysis 2, and do you think there will be a similar reaction with Crysis 3?

Rasmus Hojengaard: Yes, and yes. I mean, PC players, fundamentally only want Crysis to be on PC, right? And, you know, that's kind of understandable when you consider how the original game - and even Crytek itself - started out. But, we're definitely pushing this game a lot from a visual standpoint, and for sure there's going to be visual goodies in it that you can only get if you have a super-high-end PC.

At the same time, we want to ensure if you don't have a super-high-end PC, the game will still look amazing. On top of that, we want to make sure the experience is not different from platform to platform.

The challenges nowadays are a little bit different, to be honest. Five, maybe eight years ago, the challenges developers faced were rather broad. Now, the challenges are more specific in terms of technical features. Can you do area-based soft shadows? Ray-traced area lights? Bounce lights? All this memory-heavy stuff that build up the subtleties of photo-realism - these are the things that take up all the computational cycles.

And it's not like we have a little switch where can you flick this sort of stuff on and off. It all takes a lot of resources from either the CPU, or the graphics memory. So it's a different world now with different challenges than there was five years ago.

SPOnG: Let's flip that question around to consoles. How are you pushing the graphical fidelity on PS3 and Xbox 360, given that these platforms must be hitting a performance ceiling some seven years after launch?

Rasmus Hojengaard: In theory, you can go infinitely far. It depends on how you can translate that while managing resources for each platform. A lot of the fancy DX11 stuff that we've done for the PC platform has been translated into console versions that looks almost as good. Or at least, we've introduced a fidelity that hasn't been present in any other console game so far. Right now, our challenge will be how much of it we will actually be able to implement and to what extent, without stealing too much memory or too many cycles. But for sure, we put a lot of push on that - we have a lot of brilliant R&D guys and they spend a lot of time figuring out how to translate these high-end features into console platforms.

New KFA2 GeForce GTX 680 Graphics Cards

KFA2 is set to launch two new GeForce GTX 680 graphics card, the GTX 680 EX OC Series, and the GTX 680 Limited Edition OC with an all white PCB -- very sexy.

The GTX 680 EX OC will become available in 2 GB and 4 GB versions and will get a factory clock of 1110 MHz (core base) with a nice 1176 MHz on the core boost. The memory will remain reference clocked at 6 GHz memory. The card will get a custom design dual-fan cooling solution. See below.

Where things get really interesting is the GeForce GTX 680 Limited Edition OC. As per branding this will be a limited volume product. It will have an expensive white-colored PCB (white for whatever reason is the most expensive thing to do with a PCB color), and a triple-fan cooling solution that both Galaxy and KFA2 already used on some of their most premium graphics cards of the previous generation.

This LTD OC card is factory overclocked toward a whopping 1202 MHz (core base) with 1267 MHz (core boost), and that my guru's is very high. The 6 GHz memory remains untouched and stock clocked. The card packs 2 GB of memory. According to KFA2, will include a display output layout of two dual-link DVI, and one each of HDMI and DisplayPort (diverting from the photo).

ADATA SP900 and SP800 Series SSD

ADATA Technology today announces the launch of a complete lineup of expanded capacity solid state drives. The new SSD range includes the Premier Pro SP900 and Premier SP800, both which use new optimized firmware to utilize greater storage capacity of the NAND Flash components.

Premier Pro SP900Boasting impressive performance numbers, the Premier Pro SP900 also offers a competitive price advantage. Maximum sequential read and write speeds are 550/520 MB per second, with maximum random 4k write speeds of 85,000 IOPS. Capacities of 64, 128 and 256 GB make the SP900 an outstanding option for upgrading notebooks that are compatible with the SATA 6 Gb per second specification.

Premier SP800The Premier SP800 is a SATA II compliant SSD that also makes efficient use of the Flash storage capacity, allowing for capacities of 32 GB and 64 GB. Max sequential read and write speeds are 280/260 MB per second, and max random 4k write speeds are up to 44,000 IOPS. It enters the market as a high value entry-level solid state drive for those who are just now making the transition from mechanical drives.

The Premier Pro Series features high-quality and high-performance products at a competitive price point. ADATA's high value products in the Premier Series are designed for those looking for a balance between price and performance.

Palit GeForce GTX 680 4GB Jetstream review

We review the Palit GeForce GTX 680 4GB Jetstream edition. Why 4 GB ? Well some of you like to game at extremely high resolutions or have 8xAA as a bare minimum. If a graphics card runs out of graphics memory it'll starts swapping frames back and forward in that framebuffer which decreases the overall framerate. So today we'll look at the 4GB model, we'll specifically place a focus at some tests at 2560x1600 with a good chunk of AA enabled to see what difference the extra 2GB graphics memory will bring us in terms of performance.

Antec preps SOLO II-G Case

Antec is preparing to release a new chassis variant of its SOLO II chassis. The SOLO II-G as TPU reported today:

The case dons a gunmetal front, with matte black panels. Like the original, the SOLO II-G's USP is its noise insulation, which consists of 1 mm-thick steel sheets and active noise dampening material. The rest of the SOLO II-G specifications are identical to those of the original. Measuring 470 x 205 x 440 mm, it weighs 9.1 kg. The ATX mid-tower includes two 5.25" drive bays, in addition to three ventilated 3.5"/2.5" bays that are ventilated. Most joints in the case, including the drive cages, and the fan joints, are cushioned by rubber to dampen vibrations. The case is ventilated by TrueQuiet low-noise fans. The SOLO II-G is expected to cost 13,800 JPY (US $172) in Japan, where it hits the stores on May 12.

AMD Radeon HD 7970 to get GHz edition

More and more rumors surface that AMD may be preparing to launch a GHz edition of its Radeon HD 7970. Current stock models are clocked at 925MHz, but recent chips seem to be able to hit 1.25GHz without struggling.

According to Australian site Atomic MPC, the company has revealed that the manufacturing process of its next-gen GPUs has improved to the point where the same average voltages can yield much higher clock speeds. Recent chips can reach 1.25GHz without struggling, which means a conservative "GHz Edition" of the 7970 can now safely be rolled out, of course with scope for much higher overclocking on third-party boards with more robust coolers. By the time the battle between Red and Green reaches full-swing, it might not be so easy to call a winner.

The new HD 7970 GHz Edition will come with reference core clock speed of 1050 MHz.

In addition, the drive features PowerRead and Pioneer's PureRead2, Auto Quiet mode, QuickStart, and Peak Power Reducer technologies. Set to be released this month for a suggested retail price of 99,99 US dollars, the BDR-2207 package also includes programs made by software company Cyberlink to watch 2D and 3D movies (PowerDVD 10 BD3D), edit or author user-made video clips (PowerDirector 9) and backup personal files (Power2Go 7).